rainbows.

Today in church, we painted a rainbow. As we remembered God's promise to Noah after the flood - we affirmed, as a congregation, that we are blessed by God.

We follow a God who desires not the death of a sinner, but that we all repent and live.

We follow a God who promises to be, and has been, with us through the storms of our lives.

We follow a God who reached down into the dust of the earth to breath life into humanity - and then, even when we turned away, came down and became the dust of the earth to redeem us.

I found this writing by Bruce Pewer a few years ago in one of his sermons on this text and it continues to stay with me:

Rejoice in the rainbow. It is the sign of God’s steadfast love which promises not destruction but hope and reconstruction. It is on the basis of God’s covenant love that we dare to confront evil; it enables us to laugh in the face of the evil one, taking initiative and daring to be pro-active.

Against all the evil you see in the world, against all the injustice and corruption you observe in our nation, against all the perverse evil you see raising its sneaky head within yourself, dare to paint a rainbow!

Paint a rainbow over your frustrating failings and wilful sins, and over your irksome doubts and ignorance.

Over your sins within family life, or the ugly compromises you may have had to make in the sphere of your daily work, set that rainbow.

Project a rainbow over the motley fellowship which is the church, with its flawed ministers, stumbling leaders and its sometimes passive congregations.

In your mind paint a rainbow wherever flawed and lost humanity struggles to find a way of its own mess.

The rainbow is a permanent sign of God’s faithful love. A love which not only creates, but constantly recreates and redeems.

So today, we literally painted a rainbow to remember God's promises. We painted a rainbow to remember how God has blessed us in the past. And we painted a rainbow to be a sign to us - even in these dark days - that God is with us, and that even in the wilderness of Lent, God will send angels to care for us.

In some ways - personally - with all of the excitement and joy that I wanted this response to hold, as a congregation we had heavy hearts this morning. Right before the service, we learned of the sudden death of one of our own. In more ways than one, this message about the rainbow in the midst of storm clouds really served as comfort and hope, even in the midst of our grief and sadness.

While there of course have been deaths in the congregation prior to this point, none have hit me quite so close as this one. We have said goodbye to many dear sweet older folks this past year, and in some ways, because I was new, and because many of them were in the nursing home and not actively present in the church, it has been easier to be the comforting pastor. This particular passing is the husband of someone I have gotten to know quite well in the past year. And I pray with all of my heart for God's strength to help me minister to her and her family in these coming days.

time to get back in the swing of things.

i've been a bit absent from the blogging recently.

but like everything in life, there are ups and downs and highs and lows and maybe i'm on the upswing.

I am very excited and inspired by how this latest political election has turned out. Not just that my favored candidate won. (although, I do break out into a smile whenever I think about how amazing of a thing we did on Tuesday and whenever I think about that beautiful family moving into the White House)

I'm inspired by the fact that Obama's speech was a sober speech. That he understood the weight of the moment and that we are all going to have to work together (those who supported him and those that didn't) and sacrifice a little bit more (time, service, energy, money) to get to that place we are all dreaming of getting - of being a better nation.

I'm inspired by the fact that he talked about "we" instead of "I."

I'm inspired by fact most of all though that all of this is nothing and absolutely meaningless because we have someone else that we follow.

This morning, the refrain for the morning office was: “Because the needy are oppressed, and the poor cry out in misery,* I will rise up,” says the LORD, “And give them the help they long for.”

This Sunday, I preached on Genesis 28:10-22 - "I am God, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. I'm giving the ground on which you are sleeping to you and to your descendants... Yes. I'll stay with you, I'll protect you wherever you go, and I'll bring you back to this very ground. I'll stick with you until I've done everything I promised you."

Until everything that God has promised comes to pass, God will be with us. the Lord will not forsake us. God will not let us go. No matter how much we either screw things up or get things right, God will give us the help that we long for.

clearing away brush... planting new seeds

there are so many things happening in the church and in our lives! And I really should have been here sharing all of it!

I'm making a list and maybe I'll get back and update sometime today.

Church
1) Be the Church Sunday
2) Garage Sale Success
3) So many funerals
4) 5 baptisms in one sunday!
5) art project - genesis reading

Home
1) Birthdays and more birthdays
2) finally getting the lawn mowed
3) starting my garden!!! (and clearing out the weeds)
4) got the grill, got the outdoor furniture, ready to bbq!
5) tasks that have been put off for a while finally getting done (insurance, wedding pictures, hanging pictures on the wall)
6) finally reading for pleasure again! (Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night, Water for Elephants)

Things are really falling into place right now and everything feels good. now if I just had more time in the day!

... ... ... ... ...

Finally back around to update a few things.

1) Be the Church Sunday: Our church organized an afternoon of community service and outreach to our homebound and nursing home residents. We used the quote "don't go to church, be the church" to kick off our event and even made t-shirts that have come in handy for other service projects as well. It was a great success - we helped quite a few people, brought the church to many who haven't been able to come for a while, and I think really came together as a church as well.

2) Garage Sale Success: The city wide garage sale was the last week in April, and we joined in. We made quite a bit of money with the items that were donated, but we also went through the church and did some spring cleaning. The biggest surprise: we found fourteen old greyhound bus travel posters in a storage room, and found out they were worth quite a lot! We ended up selling them to an art dealer in California for $100 a piece! We are using the money to jumpstart our building fund - an emergency repair and upkeep fund so that we aren't always taking money from our ministries to pay for the building.

3) So many funerals - I had 3 funerals in two weeks! And they were very very different, including my first funeral for a child - an infant really who was born with heart problems. It was extremely moving and quite a powerful experience.

4) 5 baptisms in one sunday! - Memorial Day weekend we baptized 5 great-grandbabies of congregation members! I was kind of torn because all but one of them were not members of the congregation, not even Methodist, and probably would never be. But this church is important for their families... its the space where they have celebrated important moments and together experience God. And as a former pastor said, we Methodists are the ones who "hatch, match, and dispatch" - ie: baptize, marry and bury when no one else will... or for those who don't have a faith home. I talked a lot throughout the service about the importance of making promises and nurturing these children, and how as a congregation, we are making those promises too. I think the message got across, and I look forward to keeping up with these families.

5) art project - genesis reading - this was something that was done at my last church. as we read the passage from Genesis 1, there was an artist who made a mural painting of what was happening verse by verse. So when the text came up again this year, I went for it. I got a very large piece of black foamboard and as the liturgist read the passage, I painted it. People really enjoyed it and I'm hoping to do more art with them (more interactive stuff for them to participate in) in the future. I think it will be one of those ways I can start to edge into more emerging practices.

roundtable preaching

This past semester I got to work on my senior project with Dr. John McClure, a professor of homiletics at Vanderbilt Divinity. My project has been on the intersection of so-called postmodern church practices with rural churches in Iowa and one of his suggestions, as a homiletician, was that I incorporate some kind of collaborative preaching model.

And to be honest, with my leadership style and my own values, I desperately want to do so. I truly believe that the Holy Spirit brings us to and reveals to us the Word of God as we read scriptures and as we pray about what to preach. And I also believe that I am not the only person the Holy Spirit speaks to in my church! There is a word to be proclaimed and who knows who might have the message from God this week. I think there is also something that we each bring to the text, experiences that we have that need to be shared with others. And that whenever two or more are gathered, Christ is present.

So I made the invitation to people in the church to join me on Monday afternoons for a "roundtable" discussion about the text for the week. And unfortunately the weather both weeks so far has been awful - snowy, icy, foggy. And as I might have expected this early in my ministry at this church, the participants are all the same faithful people who show up for each and every other church group. The good thing about this group is that it is designed to change completely every few months, so in May I will be asking those individuals to stop coming and to help me recruit others.

One of my greatest temptations in this group is to talk too much. I really want to hear what their perspectives and their questions in relation to the text are. I spend monday afternoons doing some serious research so that I can at least begin to address whatever might come up. So far, there have been good outcomes! Last week we were looking at Jesus in the wilderness and the temptation, but because the lectionary places that text alongside Adam and Eve in the garden we got to talking about how as humans we can resist temptation... and that got us thinking about holding each other accountable. I don't know that I ever would have gone the direction of accountability with the sermon had it not been for the group, but they are aware that as a church we need to be more actively supporting one another. It turned into a great message!

I'm still learning how to incorporate their ideas into the sermon in more compelling ways, however. I realized halfway through the sermon that I said "in our roundtable group this week we discussed.." or some variation of that too many times. I need to refresh myself on the last chapter in McClure's book "The Roundtable Pulpit"

things i have learned in my first week as a minister

in no particular order:

1) no one notices if you skip the Lord's Prayer during communion - it was printed in the bulletin... it should have been in my script... but since I switched to a special Epiphany litany, the one with just the great thanksgiving and not the whole shebang, I totally missed it. But... no one seemed to notice, or at least no one said anything.

2) sometimes it's better to just let someone talk than try to respond - during one of my pastoral conversations with a parishoner they became passionately angry about evolution being taught in the schools and then quoted genesis 1. I couldn't figure out what to do next. Should I announce my theological differences? Should I point out that Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 tell differing stories and so it's hard to take them both (or either) literally? Should I say something like "wow, you really seem angry about that... can you tell me why you feel that way?"... Since I couldn't figure out what to say, I just listened. intently listened. And preceeded to find out that this really kind and sweet old man (and he really was!) was so angry about evolution being taught that he swore he would go after anyone who tried to teach his kids about evolution with a shotgun! While this probably isn't true, I felt like if I had opened my mouth I would have been run out of town. I think our congregation is a really interesting mix of biblical literalists, fundamentalists (in the early 20th century understanding of the word), people who just want to understand what the text means, and others who could care less. And I desperately want to be honest and authentic about who I am and what I believe. But I'm glad that I just listened to him right then. He got the anger out of his system and we preceeded to discuss whether or not "Deal or No Deal" was gambling.

3) food will be provided at every gathering - YAY! food for bible study, food for youth group, food for sunday morning fellowship. I love being Methodist.

4) when i'm on the internet, no one can call the church office - an interesting consequence of previous pastors not keeping office hours is that the office doesn't get used much. So they have dial-up and one phone line. But now that I have set office hours (M-Th 9-12), someone is there! And while I'm there, I'm likely to do things like correspond by email to other district and conference pastors, work on my sermon and the bulletin using textweek.com, begin working on a church website... all of which means, no incoming calls. I started to wonder why the phone wasn't ringing. LUCKILY, no one desperately needed me and we figured this out before any damage has been done. (it's not like anyone is expecting to get someone at the church... they haven't for a while). I discussed upgrading to DSL so that we can talk and surf at the same time... it's in the works.

5) homebound members LOVE IT when the pastor visits - I have been fairly nervous about visiting people. I'm not the most outgoing person in the world and my only experience so far has been making cold calls in a hospital. But there is a huge difference when you are now someone's pastor and when they haven't been visited for a long time. A congregation member came with me to begin making visits and it was so good to meet all of these wonderful people! They have so many stories to tell, so much life that they have seen. Each circumstance is different. Some are retired farmers who have moved into town. Others have lived in Marengo their whole lives. Some moved to Iowa later in life. All that I visited were widowers, but some for as few as 9 months and others for 35 years. Each desperately missed their spouses. I think that a significant ministry that our church can offer is ministry to these people. Evidently the church used to tape services for them, which can be done again. And we definately need to start a communion ministry. Maybe we can get some funding from somewhere to invest in a church bus... for quite a few of these people they either can't drive or the weather keeps them away... all they need is a ride.

6) no matter how long they have been doing without, when the pastor arrives they are expected to lead - My first day in the office, before I even had set down my stuff, I was invited to join in the bible study happening in the next room. I accepted because I wanted to see what they were doing and introduce myself, etc. but EVERY TIME there was a pause or a question, I was supposed to have the answers. As the week has gone on, it hasn't been quite as bad, but there is an expectation/hope that I'll be the one who prays, who has the answer, that I'll come join all the civic groups and participate in each of their outside bible studies. I think the part that is difficult for me is that I really value and want to embody a communal ethic of church leadership... one in which power is shared and we are all ministers in the Body of Christ. They really want a pastor. They really want a shepherd. This doesn't mean that I want to shirk my responsibilities... it means that I want to help them fully claim theirs. And I think that it will take a little while before we get to that place. I have to admit, I'm tempted at times just to take things over and do them my way... but that's not how I feel that God has called me to lead, nor do I believe that it embodies the ministry of Christ. So... while it may be slow going... together we will learn how to be the church.

7) croutons of christ just aren't as full of grace as hawaiian sweet bread - This is for all of you Vanderbilt and West End people... I'm a big fan of intinction... the good old "rip and dip"... especially when you are feasting on a hunk of Hawaiian sweet bread. Yeah, I know Jesus was probably eating unleavened bread in the upper room, but a tender chunk of bread, with all of its texture and the smells... it just really conveys the fact that you are sharing part of a meal with one another. I grew fond of gathering at the table after the worship service was over to eat the communion "leftovers." Things just are not the same when you have cubed, crustless white bread (especially when you have no loaf to break and when you take the cloth off the plate bread cubes stick to it and go flying off the table) Note to self: have a meeting with the communion committee.